Dance Band

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So Lou Reed and Kanye will be absent from this year's Art Basel, following the postponement of UR1 Music Festival. But there is plenty of Basel music at street parties that celebrate local noise. Saturday, starting at 6 p.m., Basel Castle returns to the Overthrow castle in Wynwood, this year hosting locals the Jacuzzi Boys among up-and-comers of the national indie scene. Atlanta's gold-toothed rapper Trinidad James will come bearing his facetious take on hustle-hard hip-hop, and Canadian duo Purity Rings joins the lineup with their hipster dancehall.

Pop star Richard Marx will close this year's SunFest, a five-day outdoor arts and music event held along Flagler Drive in downtown West Palm Beach, officials announced on Friday. Marx, known for songs such as Don't Mean Nothing and Hold on to the Nights, is one of the only male singers to earn four platinum albums in a row. He will perform at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 4. Also performing on May 4, in the afternoon, is up-and-coming Haitian roots-dance band RAM, which recently signed with Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville recording label.

LOS ANGELES -- Kent Taylor, a former awning salesman from Iowa who became best known for the title role on the 1950s TV detective series Boston Blackie, died during the weekend at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital. He was 80. "He was tired out," said his wife of 57 years, Augusta. Mr. Taylor, who made more than 60 movies, died in his sleep Saturday. His wife told the Los Angeles Times he had had several heart operations and had been cared for at home by a nurse until he was hospitalized Thursday.

The San Fernando Valley band that had been performing in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park when a pipe bomb exploded last week got back on stage for the first time since the blast and played for a welcoming, hometown crowd in Warner Park. Members of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack - a Motown-influenced dance band - said they were excited to be playing again at Sunday's free concert at Warner Center Pavilion in Woodland Hills, 13 miles from downtown Los Angeles, and putting the terror-filled memories from Atlanta behind them.

Drivers jockeyed for parking spaces and couples hurried to the auditorium to hear the musicians. The bustle was not for the latest rock group or rappers. The crowd of several hundred people gathered for a Delray Beach performance by the Second Time Around Dance Band. This group of 18 senior professional musicians always draws a crowd. The wooden floorboards of the gym/auditorium vibrated with the sounds of the Big Band and the dancers in Delray Beach`s city recreation center. The bleachers and folding chairs were packed.

Q. I have two queries that you may be able to answer. One, what happened to Edythe Wright after she left the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1939? Two, I had the pleasure of seeing Shep Field`s 35-piece, all-reed orchestra in 1942. Did this group record anything and, if so, where might I find it? Thank you and keep up the good work. -- A.J. Thuma, Fort Lauderdale A. Sorry, but no one seems to know anything about Edythe Wright after she left Dorsey. Perhaps one of our readers can help on this.

Ten years ago, the Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast asked seniors a simple question: What do you need? Among the answers that came back: information. So a little fair was organized to connect seniors with nonprofit agencies and for-profit companies with services and products to help improve their lives. What started as a chance to share some information has grown into a full- scale celebration with entertainment, dancing, workshops and even an aerobics class. Last year, 26,000 people attended the two-day Senior Activities Festival.

Kelly's has moved a couple of doors down and gone a little more upscale. The peanuts on the bar are long gone, but this is still a place where you and your dog can stroll through the propped-open door. Another fixture, Jerry the bartender is also here. Although Kelly's is a quiet, pleasant pub most days, it needed the extra space to accommodate the large crowds on Friday afternoons (4 to 7 p.m.) that come to hear jazz, or the (new) Saturday blues from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Hollywood's downtown has become a different place since Kelly's first opened There's still no kitchen, but given the smorgasbord within a few steps, that's barely a disadvantage.

She may be considered just one of the guys, but 72-year-old Florence Smith is the only female member of the 18-piece Second Time Around Dance Band. Smith, a tenor saxophone player, was reluctant to contact the founders of the band. "I was fairly new in Florida. I didn`t know what their reaction would be to a lady blowing a horn," she said. But Smith was encouraged to attend the first band rehearsal in 1981 and has been with the group ever since. "Big-band music is exciting. I`ve only missed one performance in six years," the West Palm Beach resident said after performing at the Cresthaven Auditorium, west of West Palm Beach.